Monthly Archives: January 2014

Yesterday TARGET announced that the hackers who committed the breach that has potentially affected as many as 110 million customers gained access to its systems through one of its vendors. Although the details are still emerging as the forensic investigation continues, this early report is a reminder that your vendors can be a potential source… Continue Reading

Almost immediately after the Republican National Committee adopted an error-filled resolution attacking the NSA and its telephone metadata program, current and former GOP officials took a strong stand against the RNC resolution: [T]he RNC resolution threatens to do great damage to the security of the nation. It would be foolhardy to end the program without… Continue Reading

In our third episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein discuss the Aereo case that the Supreme Court has decided to hear; share their reactions to the President’s NSA announcement; explain what went on with Apple’s refund of in-app purchases; discuss NIST’s announcement that they would reduce the privacy… Continue Reading

Welcome to the next installment of the new Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast. In our second episode, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Jason Weinstein, and guest panelist Stephanie Roy predict what the President may say regarding the NSA; discuss the latest update in the Target and Nieman Marcus breaches; and explain the recent net neutrality decision. Download the… Continue Reading

We are pleased to offer a new component of the Steptoe Cyberblog, the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast. The podcasts will be a weekly feature of the Cyberblog offering up the commentary and opinions of our authors on the latest events in technology, security, privacy, and government. We hope you enjoy it! Download the first episode (mp3).

In the aftermath of the TARGET breach announced last month, there has been much talk of how to respond to large-scale breaches of this type. Lawmakers are eager to write legislation to increase the FTC’s enforcement powers and create a national breach notification standard. But if the congressional response focuses entirely on breach notification and… Continue Reading

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, reviews foreign investments for national security risks. It is now beyond doubt that Chinese investment is getting much closer scrutiny from CFIUS. A total of ten transactions failed to survive review in 2012, according to a just-released Treasury report. That may not sound like… Continue Reading

Matt Blaze, a well-known public cryptographer and NSA critic, offered what seemed like a modest concession in the relentless campaign against NSA intelligence gathering: The NSA’s tools are very sharp indeed, even in the presence of communications networks that are well hardened against eavesdropping. How can this be good news? It isn’t if you’re a… Continue Reading

Following up on my recent commentary on the Target data breach, I had an opportunity to discuss its fallout in a video interview with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN. In the interview, I describe litigation Target now faces and share my opinion on what lawmakers should do to combat breaches like this.

Stewart Baker

Stewart served as the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security where he set cybersecurity policy, including inward investment reviews focused on network security. More

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